The Van Pelt and Opie Library is happy to host Professor Emeritus Larry Lankton for a special afternoon event and book signing featuring his new book, Motor City Boomer: The Car Culture That Defined a Generation (Wayne State University Press). Please join us in the East Reading Room at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 24th for storytelling, a book signing, and light refreshments. This event is free and open to the public.
Part memoir, part cultural history, Motor City Boomer takes readers back to a time when cars were more than a way to get from place to place–they were a way of life. For Baby Boomers growing up in postwar America, the automobile represented freedom, adventure, independence, and possibility. From family road trips and drive-in restaurants to drag races and Saturday nights spent cruising, cars shaped the experiences, dreams, and identities of an entire generation. Set against the backdrop of Detroit’s automotive heyday, Lankton brings to life an era when chrome, horsepower, and the open road captured the American imagination. Through personal stories, memorable anecdotes, and fascinating glimpses into everyday life, he explores how car culture influenced everything from friendships and dating to music, fashion, and popular culture.
About the author: Larry Lankton is Professor Emeritus of History at Michigan Technological University. His scholarly career focused on the history of mining, technological development, and labor in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. His book Cradle to Grave: Life, Work, and Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines won a Great Lakes History Prize. Lankton is also the author of Hollowed Ground: Copper Mining and Community Building on Lake Superior, 1840s-1990s (Wayne State University Press.)
For more information about the event, please contact University Archivist, Lindsay Hiltunen at copper@mtu.edu or Collections Strategist Librarian, Ash Brown at asbrown@mtu.edu.
For more information about the book, please contact the publisher: Kelsey Giffin at kelsey.giffin@wayne.edu or (313) 577-6054.